KAMPALA: The Ministry of Health has on January 6, 2022, in a letter addressed to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Sports stated that testing learners on arrival or before admission is not one of the recommendations or guidelines for the safe reopening of schools.
This comes after the Ministry of Health received information that some schools are directing students and pupils to do COVID-19 tests before reporting to schools, and that other schools have actually pre-positioned private laboratories to test students on arrival at the cost of students.
“Ministry of Health would like to advise that testing of pupils or students on admission or before arrival is not the official position of the COVID-19 National Taskforce,” read the letter in part.
In reference to the guidelines jointly developed by the Ministry of Education and Sports and Ministry of Health, learners can only be tested if it is found necessary, especially if there is a soaring number of cases in the school. This according to the letter, falls under a system for monitoring and isolating symptomatic cases in every school, and reporting to the nearest health facility.
The ministry also pointed out that other National COVID-19 guidelines for the safe reopening of schools that were jointly developed by the ministries were based on three pillars.
The Ministry of Health listed these as; putting in place a system for strict compliance to COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in every school, and that all schools, the staff, and parents shall work closely with the communities and nearby health facilities to address COVID-19 issues in the school.
Despite an increase in new Covid-19 cases and fatalities, President Museveni on December 31, 2021, announced that the reopening of schools starts on January 10, 2022, with SOPs as directed by the Ministry of Health.
The directive was well received by parents, whose children had been kept at home for such a long time, since schools in Uganda were suspended for two years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.